1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention relates to a floor covering assembly having a plurality of plate-like plastic elements made of an elastic material, which plastic elements are interconnected with a clearance, each element having supporting feet located at its bottom surface and coupling members located on at least one side surface, which coupling members are provided with an oblong hole each receiving supporting feet of an adjacent element in a manner displaceable in one direction.
Such plastic elements are commonly used as coverings for athletic fields and designs thereof having an upper surface provided with a lattice or grid-like structure have specifically been applied in floor coverings of tennis courts. The advantage of the plastic elements is that they are suitable for an outdoor use.
Elastic materials which are commonly used to produce such floor covering assemblys are, however, subject to thermal expansion. Accordingly it is necessary to provide a clearance between adjacent elements allowing a free expansion thereof. The clearance avoids a distortion or warping respectively of individual elements of the floor covering.
Great care must be taken to avoid a disconnection of the plug-like connection between the coupling members and the corresponding supporting feet at maximal elongation and highest loading thereof.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
In order to solve above problems known designs of plug-like connections encompass conically extending supporting feet and correspondingly designed coupling elements. These supporting feet are urged with their thicker leading end through the reduced side of the opening in the coupling element and in their end position the supporting feet snap into the corresponding coupling element.
In utilizing such a coupling of the elements it has been found that a reliable easy displacing of the supporting feet within the coupling members warranting an adjustable clearance between the elements is not always achieved.
The reason for this difficulty is that if the supporting feet have a considerable clearance within the coupling members allowing an easy displacing of the feet within the coupling members the feet may be pressed out from the coupling members by exerting comparatively small forces. On the other hand if the clearance is reduced correspondingly it may be possible that the supporting feet jam in the grooves of their coupling members.